(Paris) – Vietnam’s recent agreements with the European Union and France committing to human rights reforms have not resulted in improved respect for rights in the country, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron. He is scheduled to visit Hanoi on May 25-27, 2025.
In October 2024 in Paris, President Macron and Vietnam’s President To Lam signed a France-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and a joint statement that underlined both countries’ commitments to the United Nations Charter, including, notably, “the importance of the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” The statement referenced the 2021 EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the 2016 EU-Vietnam Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which say that respect for human rights is an “essential element” of EU-Vietnam relations.
“The Vietnamese government’s broad and intense crackdown on freedom of speech and assembly is the opposite of what it pledged to France and the EU,” said Bénédicte Jeannerod, France director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities have jailed an increasing number of democracy advocates and dissidents and are resisting reforms needed to comply with their human rights obligations.”
Vietnam has more than 170 political prisoners who have been charged and convicted under draconian laws that criminalize free expression and peaceful activism for human rights and democracy. The Vietnamese government has largely failed to implement legal reforms it pledged to undertake in the free trade and partnership agreements. The authorities harshly repress independent rights groups, labor unions, media, religious groups, and other organizations seeking to operate outside of government control.
While in Hanoi, President Macron should publicly voice concerns about the Vietnamese government’s worsening rights record and signal that its failures to adopt meaningful reforms will harm the bilateral relationship, including with respect to trade. Macron should also press President To Lam about specific political prisoners, including Pham Doan Trang, Bui Tuan Lam, Pham Chi Dung, Dang Dinh Bach, Le Dinh Luong, Dinh Van Hai, and Nguyen Thai Hung.
